CHAPTER I

A SPOILED DINNER

The big maroon car glided along in such perfect rhythm that Cora

Kimball, the fair driver of the Whirlwind, heard scarcely a sound of

its mechanical workings. To her the car went noiselessly--the

perfection of its motion was akin to the very music of silence.

Hazel Hastings was simply sumptuous in the tonneau--she had spread

every available frill and flounce, but there was still plenty of

unoccupied space on the luxuriously cushioned "throne."

It seemed a pity to passers-by that two girls should ride alone on that

splendid morning in the handsome machine--so many of those afoot would

have been glad of a chance to occupy the empty seats.

Directly following the Whirlwind came another car--the little silver

Flyaway. In this also were two girls, the Robinson twins, Elizabeth

and Isabel, otherwise Belle and Bess. Chelton folks were becoming

accustomed to the sight of these girls in their cars, and a run of the

motor girls was now looked upon as a daily occurrence. Bess Robinson

guided her car with unmistakable skill--Cora Kimball was considered an

expert driver.

Sputtering and chugging close to the Flyaway came a second runabout.

In this were a girl and a boy, or, more properly speaking, a young lady

and a young gentleman. As they neared the motor girls Bess called back

to Belle:

"There come Sid and Ida. I thought they were not on speaking terms."

"They were not, but they are now," answered Belle with a light laugh.

"Why should a girl turn her back on a young man with a brand new

machine?"

"It runs like a locomotive," murmured Bess, as, at that moment, the

other car shot by, the occupants bowing indifferently to the Robinson

girls as the machines came abreast.

Cora turned and shook her head significantly when the third car had

forged ahead. She, too, seemed surprised that Ida Giles should be

riding with Sid Wilcox. Then Bess rolled up alongside the Whirlwind.

"My, but they are going!" she called to Cora. "I thought Ida said she

would never ride with Sid again."

"Why not?" flashed Cora merrily. "Isn't Sid's car new and--yellow?"

"Like a dandelion," put in Belle, who was noted for her aesthetic

tendencies. "And, precisely like a dandelion, I fancy that machine

would collapse without rhyme or reason. Did you every try a bunch of

dandelions on the table?"

The girls all laughed. No one but Belle Robinson would ever try such

an experiment. Everybody knew the ingratitude of the yellow field

flower.

"I can never bear anything of that color since my valentine luncheon,"

declared Belle bravely. "That's why I predict disaster for Sid's new

car."

"They have dropped something!" exclaimed Hazel as she peered ahead at

the disappearing runabout.

Bess had taken the lead.

"Let's put on speed," she suggested, and, pulling the lever, her car

shot ahead, and was soon within close range of the yellow runabout.

"Be careful!" called her sister. "You will run over--"

It was too late. At that moment the Flyaway dashed over something--the

pieces flew in all directions.

"Their lunch-hamper!" exclaimed Belle.

The runabout had turned to one side, and then stopped. Bess jammed on

the brakes and also came to a standstill.

"Well!" growled Sid Wilcox, approaching the wreck in the road.

"I--couldn't stop," faltered Bess remorsefully.

"I guess you didn't try," snapped Ida Giles, her cheeks aflame almost

to the tint of her fiery tresses.

"I really did," declared Bess. "I would not have spoiled your hamper

for anything."

"And your lunch was in it?" gasped Belle. "We're awfully sorry!"

Bent and crippled enameled dishes from the lately fine and completely

equipped auto-hamper were scattered about in all directions. Here and

there a piece of pie could be identified, while the chicken sandwiches

were mostly recognizable by the fact that a newly arrived yellow dog

persistently gnawed at one or two particular mud spots.

"Oh, we can go to a hotel for dinner," announced the young man, getting

back into his car.

"But they ought to pay for the hamper," grumbled Ida, loud enough for

the Robinson girls to make sure of her remark.

"We will, of course," called Bess, just as Cora and Hazel came up, and

then the Wilcox runabout darted off again.

"Table d'hote?" called Cora, laughing.

"No, a la carte," replied Bess, picking up a piece of damaged celery,

putting it on a slice of uninjured bread and proffering it to Hazel.

"What a shame!" sighed Hazel. "Their picnic will be spoiled."

"But look at the picnic we've had," put in Belle. "You should have

seen Ida's face. A veritable fireless cooker."

"And Sid--he supplied the salt hay," declared Bess. "I felt as if I

were smothered in a ton of it."

"And that was the peace-offering hamper," declared Cora, alighting from

her car and closely viewing the wreck. "Jack told me that Ida gave Sid

a handsome hamper for the new car."

"I told you that the yellow machine would turn--"

"Dandelion," Hazel interrupted Belle. "Well, I agree with you that was

an ungrateful trick. To demolish the lunch, of all other available

things to do, on a day like this!"

"Souvenirs?" suggested Cora, removing her glove to dig out of the mud a

knife, and then a fork.

"Oh, forget it!" exclaimed Bess. "I am sure I want to. Let's get

going again, if we are to make the Woodbine Way in time to plan the

tour. I'm just crazy about the trip," and the enthusiastic girl

expended some of her pent-up energies on the crank at the front of the

Flyaway.

Cora was also cranking up. "Yes," she said, "we had best be on the

road again. We are due at the park at twelve. I expect Maud will have

the family tree along and urge us to stop overnight at every gnarl on

the 'trunk.'"

"We might have asked Ida and Sid," reflected Belle aloud,

sympathetically.

"Yes," Bess almost shouted, "and have them veto every single plan.

Besides, there are to be no boys on this trip; Lady Isabel please take

notice!"

"As if I wanted boys!" sneered her sister.

"As if you could have them if you did!" fired back Bess in that

tantalizing way that only sisters understand, only sisters enjoy, and

only sisters know how to operate successfully.

"Peace! peace!" called Cora. "If Belle wants boys she may have them.

I am chairman of the acting committee, and if boys do not act I would

like to know exactly what they do."

"No boys!" faltered Hazel, who, not owning a machine, had not as yet

heard all the details of the proposed three-days' tour of the motor

girls.

"Nary a one!" returned Bess, now about to start.

"If we had boys along," explained Cora, "they would claim the glory of

every spill, every skid, every upset and every 'busted tire.' We want

some little glory ourselves," and at this she threw in the clutch, and,

with a gentle effort, the Whirlwind rolled off, followed closely by the

Flyaway.

"I suppose Sid and Ida are licking their fingers just about now,"

remarked the good-natured Bess.

"Very likely," rejoined her sister, "for I fancy their meal was made up

of buckwheat cakes and molasses, as Sid had to pay for it."

"Oh, I meant sheer deliciousness," corrected her sister. "I

'fawncy'"--and she imitated the dainty tones used by Belle--"they have

had--"

"Backbiting and detraction," called Cora, who had been close enough to

hear the sisters' remarks. "I would not have been in your place at

that table, Bess, for a great deal."

Bess tossed her head about indifferently. She evidently knew what to

expect from Ida and Sid.

"Now for a straight run!" announced Cora, throwing in third speed. "We

must make the bridge by the quarter whistle or the Maud Morris family

tree may have been consumed for luncheon. I particularly want a peg at

that tree."

"We're off!" called Bess, following with additional speed.

Then the Whirlwind and the Flyaway dashed off, over the country roads,

past scurrying chicks and barking dogs, past old farmers who turned in

to give "them blamed things" plenty of room, out along Woodbine to the

pretty little park where the plans for the first official run of the

motor girls were soon to be perfected.